2024-03-04 18:16:15
Concerned regarding the isolation practices in place at the Cartier youth center in Laval, the minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, launched an administrative investigation to shed light on this subject.
Published at 1:16 p.m. Updated at 2:10 p.m.
“I asked the national director of youth protection to carry out an investigation with the CISSS de Laval, an administrative investigation with her team, to see what exactly is happening, because we find it unacceptable and these are clinical issues,” said the minister on Monday, on the sidelines of a press briefing in Montreal where he announced funding for housing for the homeless.
The Press revealed on Monday that children as young as nine years old housed in youth protection were placed “in seclusion”, in the event of “disruptive behavior”, in small rooms similar in every way to prison cells, equipped with beds made of concrete and closed by two mesh doors.
Employees and union representatives denounce these practices. The CISSS de Laval, responsible for the installation, attributes this situation to the dilapidation of the premises, poorly suited to a clientele of this age, and to the high demand.
In 2021, the CISSS de Laval also submitted a plan to the Ministry of Health and Social Services to rejuvenate its facilities. “What we read regarding isolation and restraint is worrying,” Minister Carmant briefly commented.
Qualifying the article as The Press “alarming”, Liberal MP Brigitte Garceau denounced “the inhumane conditions in which children are placed under youth protection”.
“It is time for measures to be taken to guarantee the well-being and safety of these vulnerable children,” responded the Liberal spokesperson for youth protection.
“I am upset to see the aberrant conditions in which young people live at the Cartier youth center,” echoed the solidarity manager for social services, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard.
“Our role, as a society, is to care for and ensure the physical, mental and emotional protection of these children, among the most vulnerable in our communities. Even the management describes the situation as poorly adapted, with dilapidated and obsolete buildings,” lamented the supportive elected official.
With Caroline Touzin and Ariane Lacoursière, The Press
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